It's the Brian Laira show on WNYC. Good morning again, everyone. Today, tragically, we seem to have two acts of political terrorism to acknowledge 9-11 on this 24th anniversary and what

appears at least to be the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

We'll talk about the killing of Kirk now and the larger cycle of political violence that

the country is in in recent years that the murder of Charlie Kirk appears to be a part of.

The New York Times has an editorial now, headline Charlie Kirk's horrific killing and America's

worsening political violence. That also says his killing is part of a horrifying wave of political

violence in America.

Since last year alone, a gunman killed a member of the Minnesota State Legislature and her husband and shot another Minnesota politician and his wife.

That was an attack against Democrats from everything that was reported.

A man set fire to the home of Governor Josh Shapiro of

Pennsylvania and a would-be assassin shot Donald Trump on the campaign trail. In 2022, an attacker

broke into Representative Nancy Pelosi's home and fracture her husband's skull. In 2021, a violent mob attacked

Congress, smashing windows and brutalizing police officers. In 2021, a violent mob attacked Congress, smashing windows and brutalizing police officers.

In 2017, a gunman shot four people at a Republican practice for the congressional baseball game,

badly wounding Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana, that from the New York Times. I might add the shooting at the

Centers for Disease Control just recently by a gunman who, according to all reports,

fired more than 180 shots to protest against COVID vaccines. So we have three guests.

McKay Coppins, Atlantic Magazine staff writer,

who went to college at another school near Utah Valley University, where Kirk was shot dead

yesterday. McKay posted on X, every act of political violence is like a blinking red light,

alerting us to the growing American emergency, we are in an incredibly fragile moment,

praying for Charlie Kirk, his family, and our country.

...